A Wonderful Life
by tivafanintheusa
Summary: "What a wonderful life we do lead, don't we, Mrs. Castle?" Based off of the movie You've Got Mail, with Castle and Beckett in place of the title characters. A bit AU, but set in late season four, before Castle finds out Beckett's secret.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey howdy hey! I know, I know. I'm back! It's my Christmas break again and I really wanted to write. Some people on tumblr were talking about a Caskett AU using the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie "You've Got Mail". That got my juices flowing, and now here we are! This is going to loosely follow the last half of the movie – at this point Joe/Castle and Kathleen/Kate are both single again – so I don't anticipate it being very long – I think we're looking at about 5 chapters. This is my first Castle fanfic, so don't hate too much! Any and all help in terms of characterization would be welcomed and appreciated! **

**Disclaimer: Quite unfortunately, neither Castle nor You've Got Mail are mine. **

_ StormWriter: _Hey. Figured you'd be on now.

Beckett smiled at her computer, her heart rate speeding up and butterflies taking flight in her stomach all at once. _How could he know?_ She glanced around the precinct, hoping nobody was watching her. She wasn't supposed to be on here right now, strictly speaking. But this guy – StormRider – intrigued her. He intrigued her more than any man she'd ever met. She barely knew anything about him, other than he lived in New York, but they had fun. It was light flirting, easy banter back and forth, but she couldn't remember the last time she had this much fun. She hadn't told anyone about him, not even Lanie. It was no big deal, really. They had only been talking like this for a couple of months; 3 months, 9 days, 16 hours, and 44 minutes, her subconscious piped up. Shaking her head and realizing she hadn't responded yet, Beckett's hands hovered over the keyboard as she pondered what to write.

_ KB6: _Hey stranger. How'd you know? I'm at work.

_ StormRider: _Gut feeling.

Kate smiled, seeing a brown haired, handsome man smirking to himself in her mind. She returned to the screen.

_ KB6: _You're good.

_ StormRider: _Thank you, madam.

_KB6: _Anytime, my good man.

This was so unlike herself. What was she doing? But it came so easily. Hearing the elevator open behind her, Beckett minimized the screen and pulled up the internet search she was supposed to be doing on the lone witness they had so far on this case.

"Yo, Beckett."

Pushing back from her desk, Beckett swiveled in her chair to face the detective, noting his partner standing behind him, a knowing smile on his face. "Get anything, Espo?"

"Not a lot, but unis at the canvas site did find some partial prints they were hoping Lanie could use. I'm gonna go let her know." He left without an answer.

"Yeah, you go do that, Javi." Kate smirked. Beckett shared a grin with Ryan as he made his way to his desk. The medical examiner and the detective still had a thing for each other and everybody knew it – you'd have to be blind not to see it. Returning to her conversation, her smile fell as she read:

_ StormWriter: _Hey sorry, got to go, something came up.

_ StormWriter: _Do you think we could meet some time?

_ StormWriter: _You don't have to respond right now, just think about it.

_ StormWriter: _Okay, now I really have to go. Just think about it.

Beckett stared at her screen, unsure of what to do. Instinctually she wanted to say yes. Of course she wanted to meet this man! But then her cop instincts took over and she silently admonished herself for even entertaining the idea. Trying to shake off the feelings of giddiness and anxiety, she turned to get lost in her work. She hadn't finished more than setting up the murder board with what little info they had before Castle came bounding into the room.

"Sorry I'm late, got a little…sidetracked."

Beckett glanced over her shoulder at him, before continuing to work. "Everything alright, Castle? It's not like you to miss a body drop…and you would've _loved_ this one." Well, no, he wouldn't have, no more than normal, but she couldn't resist teasing him just a little.

"Really?"

Ha, she's got him hooked already. Too. Easy. "Yeah. Blonde female, 30-35 years old. Remember the contorted body in the safe from a few years ago? We found her kind of like that."

Castle was hanging on to her every word, and looked nearly ready to fall over in anticipation.

"And you know what she said when I got to her?"

"What? What did she say?"

Beckett tried hard not to smirk at him, but she couldn't hide the gleam in her eye.

"Hey…" he said slowly.

"Castle is too gullible for his own good," she deadpanned. Grinning, she turned back to the murder board, leaving Castle to make a face at her back before joining her in her work. A few minutes later, he piped up.

"I might have a date in a couple of nights."

Beckett raised her eyebrow and tried to hide the increase in her heart rate and the mild blush that fell over her cheeks. "And you felt the need to share with the class?"

He shrugged. "I just…figured you should know."

"Well. Thanks. I think." After a slightly awkward pause she added, "anybody I know?"

He smiled at her, his adorable excited smile that appeared often because of something she said or did. She loved that smile. "_I _don't even know her!"

Beckett looked startled at that. "Castle. You're going to go on a date with someone you don't even know? Do you know how dangerous that is? She could be part of the mob. Or a felon on the loose. Or…any number of things! What?"

Castle crossed his arms, his smile shifting from excited to smug. "Is that concern for my well-being I detect, detective? Or maybe a little jealousy?"

"What? No. Definitely not. I just – "

"You just what?"

"I just don't want my partner to get hurt." She refused to meet his eyes.

"Uh huh. Well in any case, it might not happen. She hasn't said yes yet."

Beckett looked the tiniest bit relieved at that. Turning to her desk she picked up a file, preparing to move on. "Well, let me know what happens. Now come on. The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can go home."

Crawling into bed that night, Beckett grabbed her phone and checked her messages one last time. She wasn't checking to see if there was one from him – no, she just wanted to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. And no, her stomach didn't swoop and her heart didn't jump to her throat when she saw a new message from him.

_ StormWriter: _So, what about that date?

**A/N: Thoughts? Let me know! The next chapter should be up tomorrow/later today (December 29), or by December 30 at the latest. In the meantime, follow me on tumblr! I'm captaincaskett, and I blog a majority Caskett, but I also blog a fair amount of Captain Swan, and, of course, Tiva (I used to be tivafanintheusa if any of you followed me then). **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First off, wow! Thanks for all of the favorites/follows/reviews. Before we keep going, I'm going to answer a few questions…as far as Joe and Kathleen not knowing each other outside of the chatrooms as well as Caskett does, I agree. Since this is focused really on the last half of the movie, I figured there would be a little more wiggle room there, but I can scale it back until the chapter where they spend the day discussing this mystery man, if y'all think I should. To the reviewer wondering about flirty Beckett, in my mind she's kind of hoping that this guy is Castle, much like Kathleen was hoping it'd be Joe. Should I make that more obvious? Castle openly going on this date was more my way of adding a little angst than anything else, but remember it's tied to the first time Joe and Kathleen attempt to meet, and he stands her up. So he's really telling Beckett that he's potentially going on a date with her, just neither of them know it yet. Like I said, this is a little bit AU so everything isn't exactly season 4. And finally, thanks to the reviewer who caught the StormWriter/StormRider mishap. I thought I caught them all. My method is to write something out, then go back and fix it, then fix it again, etc. So every now and then something does slip by. This is a little bit challenging, and it'll probably take some more tweaking even after it's completely finished before it's "done". But I'll keep going and trying if you guys want me too! Any more questions? Let me know! And now, onward!**

What the hell? What've I got to lose right? Beckett began to write her reply but then froze, erased it, and paced around the room. I don't even know this guy. But I'm a cop, I can protect myself. Finally she came up with an answer.

_KB6: _How about this. We meet somewhere for coffee or a late dinner, a get to know you type thing. Then maybe we go from there.

His reply was quick.

_StormRider: _I'll take it. Meet you at Remi's at 8?

_KB6: _Sure. But how will you know who I am?

_StormRider: _Do you own any Richard Castle novels?

_KB6: _Do I? I own them _all._ Rick Castle is my favorite author.

_StormRider: _Great. Bring one and leave it standing up on the table. I'll know it's you.

The next day at the precinct passed by slowly. No new leads, no anything to distract Kate from the upcoming date. She couldn't even remember much of what happened. Just lots of people coming up to her, saying something, moving on, repeat. Castle had only been in for a few minutes too, saying something about a date tonight and that he had a chapter to finish before then. All of a sudden it was 8PM and she was sitting in Remy's.

Castle, having not been sure what to wear strode up to the café and checked his hair in the mirror. "I really _am _ruggedly handsome, I really _am _ruggedly handsome," he mumbled, attempting to calm his nerves. It wasn't working, but he was prepared for this. He turned to his daughter.

"Alexis, look in there for me. Tell me if she's there. She's – "

"I know, dad, one of your books is standing on the table. We've been over this."

"Right. Now, look!" Alexis looked. "Do you see her?"

"Not yet. Oh!"

"What does she look like?"

"Oh. Sorry. There's a cute boy in there, all by himself." She grinned as Castle gave her a look. "He's reading one of your books though, so he can't be that bad…" she trailed off and turned to keep searching. "There she is! Oh boy."

"Is she gorgeous? I knew it. She's beautiful, and probably really witty to."

Alexis turned to her dad, looking nervous. "Um, dad? You like Detective Beckett, right? Like her looks and everything?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Well then you'll definitely like this woman."

"Why?" A lead ball of dread seemed to drop into Castle's stomach as he pressed his face to the window. Alexis's confirmation came from behind him, just as his eyes settled on what he feared.

"It _is _Beckett."

Castle backed away, unsure what to do. Pacing back and forth, he ran his hand through his hair as he came up with possibilities.

"What are you gonna do, dad? You can't stand her up."

He stopped. "Yes. Yes, I can. And that's what I'm going to do. Come on, lets go home." Without waiting for an answer he headed back the way they came. After a moment, Alexis trailed behind him, casting furtive looks back at the restaurant.

Back inside, Beckett looked at her watch. 8:45. She was starting to wonder if this guy was coming at all. How much longer should she wait? Just then, the bell over the door rang, and she looked up hopefully. Immediately her eyes locked with someone's she would know anywhere. Castle. He sauntered over to her, being sure to hide that he knew she was here. After returning to his loft he changed his mind again, and came back to talk as a friend.

"Why Detective, I had no idea you would be here tonight. Are you waiting for someone?"

Deciding to get this conversation over with so that this mystery man wouldn't find her talking to another man – if ever he showed up – she decided to engage in a little conversation.

"I was. He's late," she said flatly. "What about you? Don't you have a date tonight?"

Castle shrugged non-committedly. "I did. She…well, I'm not that guy anymore. Mind if I take a seat, wait with you?" Before she could protest, Castle was sitting down.

"So, who is this guy?"

Beckett shifted nervously. A lightbulb seemed to go off in Caslte's head.

"You don't know! After everything you said yesterday, you went and made a date with someone you don't know. Wow, Beckett."

"I _am _a cop, Castle. If I really thought he was bad news, I would've stopped talking to him a long time ago."

"Mhmm. Well in any case, he's not here right now, is he? Did he stand you up?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe something held him up." The excuse sounded feeble even to her. Deciding to take a little bit of pity on her, Castle stopped giving her such a hard time.

"I'm sorry if he did, you know. If he really knew you, he'd never let you go." The intensity of his gaze forced Beckett to look away after a minute.

"Thanks, Castle."

He leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and grinned a self assured smile. "Hey, it's my job."

"Your job?"

"As your partner. I have your back, you've got mine."

"Right. Now, I think it's time for you to go. I don't want him to see us together when he walks in!"

"You're probably right." With that, Castle stood, walked around behind her, and dropped into a seat at the open table.

Beckett turned around. "You're still here." As sweet as he had just been, her tone bordered on frustrated.

"Yes. But I am not there, and therefore did exactly what you asked and left."

She rolled her eyes. It was now 9 o'clock and she was getting more agitated. She was going to snap soon. She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Yes?"

"Tag. You're it."

That was the last straw. "That's it! Get out. I just want my date to show up, and then you insufferable idiot appear and won't leave me alone and I just want to be _alone!_" She sat there heaving with frustration as Castle stared at her, obviously hurt.

"You think I'm an insufferable idiot?"

"Castle, no. I didn't mean that." She tried to talk him back down as he stood up. "I was just frustrated, alright?" He had his jacket on now.

With one last look at Beckett, he huffed, "guess that's my cue," and walked out the door and into the night.

**A/N: So, the precinct should be fun tomorrow…also, bonus points to the first person to correctly figure out why Beckett's username is what it is. With the mess up last chapter, I think we can all figure out the reasoning behind Castle's...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Beware, there are not happy times ahead. Some things need to be worked out. There isn't a ton of dialogue, and this is shorter than the last two. But there is light at the end of the tunnel! I'm not the best angst writer, so hopefully this isn't too awful. Also, the timing of this is a little different from YGM – whereas in the movie it was at least a couple of days, if not weeks, before Joe came to see Kathleen when she was sick, in our world it's only been a day because I don't think Castle could've stayed away from the precinct that long. Also, Kate isn't sick. Whereas Kathleen could be sick at home with nothing to do because she was out of a job, Kate still works and so therefore Castle is making amends at work. **

**Disclaimer: sadly, Castle and You've Got Mail are still not mine. Maybe for my birthday.**

The elevator ride up to the bullpen was taking forever. After a night full of tossing, turning, and generally not being able to sleep, Beckett had finally gotten out of bed around 6:15. She kept replaying her last conversation with Castle, searching for something she could have done different, and when she did manage to fall asleep – albeit fitfully – he appeared and woke her up again. She took a shower, brushed her teeth, got ready for the day. It was 7 now. She looked around her apartment for something to do. She saw nothing. _May as well go into work then. _She left without a second thought. Leaning against the back wall of the elevator, Beckett tried to stay awake. She had forgotten to get coffee on the way, since that was usually Castle's thing. She didn't think he'd be coming in today. The dinging of the elevator brought her to attention again, and set anxious butterflies off in her stomach. He wouldn't be here yet. She was really early, _nobody_ would be here yet, she reassured herself.

Walking slowly out of the elevator, Beckett made her way to her desk, sighing in relief when there was nobody sitting beside it waiting for her. Just as she had expected – or hoped – she was all alone. She sat down, taking in her surroundings. Ryan and Esposito's desks sat across the way. The break room beckoned on the right, and Captain Gates' office sat dark and empty to her left and towards her partner's desks. Her eyes fell on the chair by her desk – his chair. She was tempted to use it today, put her chair in its place so his spot wouldn't be empty, taunting her if and when he didn't appear. Before she could follow through on the thought, the elevator sounded again, and Beckett turned on her computer, pretending as though she had just sat down.

The morning went about the same as the previous morning, but today there was no word from Castle at all, just as Beckett suspected. Esposito kept shooting her worried looks, and he must have been talking to Lanie as well because when she went down to see her, she didn't seem to have much more information than the day before. Rather, she seemed to want to see Kate herself, to talk whatever had happened out with her.

She took her lunch break around noon and returned quickly. Walking back in, she saw a warm cup of coffee sitting on her desk. _Probably Espo, just trying to cheer me up._ When she reached her desk, however, she saw the handwriting, and it wasn't Espo's. It was from the coffee place Castle picked up their coffees from, and under her name he had written two words in his distinct scrawl: _I'm sorry_. She looked up, searching the room for him. He had to be around here somewhere.

She found him peeking out of the break room, watching her. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she spotted him, and he retreated back into the room. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Beckett caught Espo and Ryan watching her closely. She gave them a shaky smile before heading towards Castle, coffee in tow.

"Hey."

"Hey." He was sitting on the couch, looking at the ground. After a painful silence, they spoke at the same time.

"Listen, Castle –"

"About last night –"

They looked at each other. "Ladies first."

Beckett came to sit next to him on the couch. She turned to face him so their knees were just brushing. Looking him in the eyes, she began. "I'm sorry for yesterday, Rick. I was upset and I just snapped. I didn't mean it, any of it. It's just…something about you pushes me over the edge sometimes."

Castle nodded. "I know. And I don't mean to push you that far – not always, anyway." He smiled apologetically. "But it was partly my fault. I knew you were upset, Kate, I just…" he let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Well regardless, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I know I hurt you, and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

After another moment of silence, Beckett nodded towards the coffee. "Thank you for the coffee. I hadn't had any today."

He smiled, a genuine, content, happy Castle smile. "Always."

Beckett smiled. _If only we weren't us._ She stood up, putting the thought away before she could entertain it. "Now, how about we go catch a killer?"

**A/N: There we have it! Like I said, I'm not the best with angst and drama, so sorry if it isn't great, I hope you liked it anyway. I forgot that I'm going to be out of town all day tomorrow, so no update then **** Sorry! And then Thursday is New Year's Day…I'm not completely ruling out chapter 4 being up then, but don't bank on it either. Just in case, Happy New Years! I wish you all the best for 2015, and I hope you have a fabulous time celebrating. **


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